Former India cricketer has come down heavily on England’s Jos Buttler after he failed to appeal against Matthew Wade’s alleged obstruction of the field. In a heated tweet, he accused Wade of ‘cheating’ and cited the ‘sense of entitlement’ of English cricketers. It all happened in the first T20I match between Australia and England at the Optus Stadium Perth where Australia were chasing 200 plus target against their arch-rivals.
In the 17th over, with Australia chasing 209 runs, Wade top-edged Mark Wood and realized he might be caught. He was then seen rushing back at the crease, but not before trying to stop England bowler with his left hand, obstructing him not to make his ground else the catch would have been taken.
Moreover, England didn’t appeal the decision with the skipper Jos Buttler revealing that appealing would have invited backlash from the local press and fans alike.
“I was looking at the ball the whole time, so I wasn’t sure what happened. They asked if I wanted to appeal, but I thought we are here for a long time in Australia so would be a risky one to go for so early in the trip,” Buttler was quoted as saying after the match.
Reacting to this whole thing, former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad slammed both the sides, but especially the English who had accused Deepti Sharma of lying when she ran out Charlie Dean recently. Prasad said how these same people had accused India of violating spirit of cricket, but didn’t do a thing when Wade obstructed Mark Wood’s path.
“Pathetic, in one word this is Cheating, not in the spirit of the game and Obstructing the field and what a terrible excuse from Jos Buttler to not appeal. The sense of entitlement of these guys is unbelievable. Bullshitting about spirit of the game when there is no spirit,” he tweeted.
